


Bloodsucking and other things you do NOT want to do in college

by youngbIood



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Bisexual Kady Orloff-Diaz, Blood Drinking, Brakebills, F/F, Fluff, Josh and Fen who?, Lesbian Alice Quinn, M/M, Multi, No Fillory, POV Quentin Coldwater, Pining, Quentin is a vampire my dudes, Slow Build, Slow Burn, The Beast plotline, They are cute idiots, i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-10-19 08:11:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20653982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngbIood/pseuds/youngbIood
Summary: Quentin Coldwater's first 21 years of life were completely normal. Boring, even. But the second he turns 22, he's turned into a vampire and gets accepted into a college for magic. What the fuck is up with that?or: the 40th timeline except Quentin is a vampire.





	1. Prologue

So, coincidences, “wrong-place-wrong-time” situations. Are they actually just what they seem, coincidences, or are they deliberately planned by some higher power to fuck up our lives? We may never know. As the narrator, though, I feel I can say that I absolutely do not believe in coincidences. Everything is planned, including what happened to Quentin Coldwater on the 20th of July, 2015.

It all started when Quentin and Julia went out to celebrate his 22nd birthday. He hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of it, but Julia insisted they did something special. And, well, since neither of them really wanted to plan anything too big with pre-exams stress breathing down their necks, they decided to go to a small, cozy bar on the outskirts of New York with James and a couple of other friends from college. The bar was old, located near a forest and it looked like it was owned by a gremlin who was into gothic decor: it had a low roof, dark wooden furniture with metallic details, warm lighting and small decorative windows. The walls smelled like dirt, but not necessarily in a bad way. Just enough to make you feel like you’re standing in a potato field.

Quentin, Julia and James sat down in a booth in the corner and waited for the others to show up. It didn’t take long before they all were there. Most of them weren’t exactly Quentin’s friends, mostly Julia’s, but they’d still decided to show up out of courtesy. They all had a couple of drinks, chatted and, to Quentin’s disappointment, did not forget to sing happy birthday to him. Quentin did not realize to appreciate that night as much as he probably should have.

After a couple of hours, the other students, one by one, started going back to their dorms to study or sleep. It was Saturday night, after all, and most still had to study for their final exams, which were coming up next week. At 11:30 PM James decided to go too, leaving Quentin and Julia alone. 

“Well, that was fun”, Quentin said, nursing the rest of his drink. Julia shot Quentin a look of amused disbelief. “Really? You could at least thank me”, Julia said, flashing a genuine smile and slapping Quentin’s arm playfully. A few years ago the action combined with that beautiful smile of hers would have made Quentin’s heart flutter, but his childish crush on her had slowly faded after Julia and James had started dating. Quentin cleared his throat before answering.

“You’re right. Thank you, I did need... a distraction. This week’s been stressful”, he admitted sheepishly and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. Julia nodded. "I think we all needed this. Everyone's been so consumed with studying lately, I haven’t had the chance to really talk to anyone", Julia said and shrugged. Quentin would most likely have replied, but before he had the chance, Julia’s phone started ringing.

“Hello?”, she said into the phone, expression slowly turning worried as she listened to the person on the other end of the phone. She didn't say much at all. “What is it?” Quentin asked carefully when Julia had ended the call. Her face was void of emotion, and her eyes were focused on nothing.

“I-It's my sister. She’s in the hospital. Her appendix… It was badly infected and had to be removed. The nurse said she’s okay now, but it was so bad she could have died.” Julia swallowed and took a deep breath. Quentin didn’t really know what to say. “I... Wow. Do you maybe… want to go and see her? I could come with you”, he suggested.

Julia forced a small smile. “No, it’s okay. I… I think I need to spend some time alone with her. This, as bad as it sounds, made me realize we haven’t talked in a really long time. At least not in the way sisters are supposed to”, she said and hummed, smiling sadly. “Yeah, of course. I hope you guys work things out”, Quentin said and squeezed Julia's hand carefully. Julia nodded and started getting up from the table. “Yeah... Me too. See you tomorrow. Bye, Q”, she said and smiled gently before grabbing her bag and heading out.

“Bye”, Quentin whispered to himself.

He sat there for some time alone. He didn’t know why he didn’t just get up and leave as well; he probably looked pathetic drinking alone on a Saturday night. But something about the bar’s atmosphere made him stay. He felt comforted by its soft lighting, nostalgia-inducing smell and silence. He knew it was late, but he didn’t truly realize exactly how late it was before the bartender addressed him directly: “Hey, buddy, we’re closing in five.”

Quentin didn’t realize the bartender was talking to him before he looked around and realized that he was the only customer in the whole bar.

“Um… Yeah, okay. I’ll head out”, he said, downed the rest of his room-temperature whiskey, put on his jacket and got up with his bag slung over his shoulder. The cold summer night air of the more deserted part of New York was a contrast, not necessarily a bad one, to the warm air inside the bar. Quentin decided to enjoy it and took in a deep breath, calming himself down in the process. He immediately felt better, and he hadn’t even realized how tired he was before he got outside. Even though he wanted to begin the journey back to his dorm, he registered New York was rarely this quiet and decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

He began to search his jacket pockets for a cigarette pack, but had no luck.

“Shit”, he muttered and sighed. Guess he’d forgotten to bring it with him. He was about to start walking to his bicycle when he heard someone clear their throat next to him.

“Care for a smoke?” the stranger spoke, shaking a cigarette pack in her hand.

She was short, beautiful, and her rose pink hair glowed in the moonlight. She had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Either Quentin was not paying any attention to his surroundings and she’d been there the whole time, or she had managed to sneak up at the scene unnoticed.

Quentin was taken aback and a little creeped out, but realized it would be rude not to answer. “Um… Yeah, sure.” He paused. “Why not?” he said and walked over to the stranger.

He took a cigarette out of the stranger’s cigarette pack, put it between his lips and leaned forward a bit towards the stranger’s lighter, allowing her to light Quentin’s cigarette better.

Right after the stranger lit up her own cigarette as well.

“Colder night than usual”, the stranger stated after a moment of silence, puffing out a cloud of smoke that danced around in the air beautifully before disappearing. “Yeah”, Quentin answered, not quite knowing what else to say. The stranger didn’t continue the conversation, and neither did Quentin. He felt a bit awkward, but the woman didn’t seem to mind the silence. After standing there for a while, the bartender walked out the bar's front door, past them and to his car. Quentin watched as he got into the car and drove off, joining the other cars on the highway.

Quentin and the woman stood side by side for a while after that, watching cars drive by and enjoying the strange atmosphere. When Quentin had finished his cigarette, he put it out by stomping on it and then threw it out.

“I should probably get go-” Quentin started, but was interrupted by the woman pinning him against the building’s rough wall. "Oh, you're not going anywhere, pretty boy", the woman breathed and smiled in a way that seemed almost terrifying. The woman's change of nature had been so quick Quentin just blinked in surprise and was seemingly frozen in place. He couldn’t have moved even if he had wanted to.

The woman’s brown eyes were enticingly beautiful, and as he looked into them, he started to feel safe, like he belonged there: against the wall, in the woman’s firm hold. He felt more and more relaxed with every blink of his eyes, and finally he closed them. In his comfortable, drunken-like haze, he couldn’t quite register what was happening even after he felt a distant-seeming pain in his neck. With the pain came warmth that spread all over: to his cheeks, the tip of his nose, toes and fingers.

The pain started feeling less like pain after a while and more like pressure that only seemed to intensify the feelings of pleasure and bliss he was feeling. He didn't know quite how long they stood there like that, but the moment seemed to last forever. Finally, when the pressure lifted along with the feelings of pleasure and giddiness, Quentin found himself feeling disappointed.

He wasn’t yet torn out of his comfortable haze, though, and soon enough he felt another new sensation: metallic, warm liquid against his tongue that dripped down his chin and throat. He instinctively swallowed it, and kept swallowing as long as it kept coming.

"Try not to get too stoked. You're a god now, enjoy it", the stranger whispered, laughing with a hint of insanity and releasing him from her hold. That was the last thing Quentin experienced before he felt his vision start to blur and his legs gave out.

That was the night Quentin Makepeace Coldwater's life was completely changed by a set of seemingly coincidental events.

It's up to you to decide, though, whether they truly were coincidental, or something more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading, I sure enjoyed writing this! More chapters coming soon.


	2. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Mention of vomiting

Quentin spent the next few weeks in bed, vomiting until he had nothing left to let out. His wounded neck made a full recovery, but otherwise he felt like hell. It was as if a small man was living inside his head, mercilessly pounding his brain with a hammer. The pain was so bad he thought he was going to die, but the sweet release of death never came.

During his last days of the sickness, Quentin felt so weak and looked so sickly that Julia grew concerned and decided to drive him to the hospital. The nurse just declared Quentin's illness a virus that would cure itself in a few days and called it a day. 

Turned out the nurse was right.

Even after Quentin had healed from the virus, though, he never shook the feeling that something was off. He felt different, like a completely new person. Some days in a good way, some days in a bad way. Quentin soon discovered that that feeling was merely his body getting used to the changes that came with turning into a vampire: a craving for blood, a slow, almost unnoticeable heartbeat and a slowed down digestion system. As crazy as Quentin’s life was after “the incident”, it was going to get even crazier.

Just a few weeks after Quentin had fed for the first time, a drafted, special edition of the Fillory books appeared out of nowhere in front of him when he was walking down the street. The wind flew it right out of his reach the second he reached for it, though. But of course Quentin couldn't give up. He chased after it, and it eventually led him to a garden full of spiky bushes.

One moment he was walking through the bushes whose spikes grazed his skin, to get to the draft, and before he knew it, he was in a posh school yard. It was as if he’d stepped through a portal. The school yard’s grass was freshly cut and bare, its size most likely a status symbol. A few hundred feet away from him was a huge school building along with equally huge, beautiful trees framing it, a hedge maze and a small garden.

At first he thought he had somehow passed out and was dreaming, but after a while of rational thinking, he realized he couldn't have been. First of all, the things he was experiencing were way too realistic for a dream. The blinding sunlight in his eyes, the warmth he felt for being in his thick clothes that were fit for the chilly fall weather… Nope. It was all too real. Besides, his dreams were usually the sort that made as much sense as an abstract painting. Second of all, the cuts and scratches from the garden’s spiky bushes were healing and no longer hurting, and in dreams even the smallest cut never really seemed to stop aching.

When Quentin stopped looking around like a deer caught in headlights and actually started walking towards the school, he noticed a short, smug-looking girl casually sitting on a stone ledge bearing the school’s name. He got closer and was about to ask the girl if she knew where they were, but before he had the chance, she greeted him. 

“Welcome to Brakebills, guy who I’m assuming is... Quentin Coldwater”, the girl said with a smile after looking at a card in her hand. “Uh huh?” Quentin more asked than replied, confusion showing in his expression.

The girl laughed at him and jumped off of the stone ledge. “Good. Now, no need to panic, I’ve been exactly where you are. This whole thing is weird, but you get used to it”, the girl said and offered Quentin her hand. When he shook it, she introduced herself: “I’m Margo. Margo Hanson.” 

“I’m... Well, you already know”, Quentin said awkwardly and let go of Margo’s small hand. She smiled and started leading the way. Quentin didn’t exactly know where she was going, but he decided following her was the best option he had. “Now come on, you’re late already. No one likes a latecomer.”

Quentin swallowed. “So, um… Where am I, exactly? And what’s going on, what am I late for?” he decided to ask, but Margo didn’t seem to hear him. Or if she did, she sure didn’t show it. Quentin didn’t like the idea of annoying her with more questions if she didn’t want to answer them, so he shut his mouth. While following Margo, Quentin saw a glimpse of Julia walking down the school’s hall. Quentin felt an indescribable sense of relief and let himself relax a bit.

_Am I seeing things? No. Am I though? ...No. She's really here. I won't have to go through this alone. Thank fuck._

After a surprisingly short amount of walking, Margo and Quentin arrived in front of two old, heavy doors at the top of fancy marble stairs. “This is where our ways part, but if I’m right about you, I will definitely see you around”, Margo said, gently patting Quentin’s cheek before walking away. Quentin was dumbstruck, but decided he had to go in through those doors soon. After all, he was late, wasn’t he? Even if he didn’t know what he was late for, he was dying to find out.

Quentin pushed one of the doors open and found himself entering an exam hall. He felt his cheeks getting warmer when he realized about fifty people turned to look at him. He almost turned back around before he heard the supervisor of the exam speak his name. “Quentin Coldwater, I assume. You’re late. Please take a seat”, the tall woman spoke and gestured at an unoccupied seat near the back of the room.

Quentin didn’t say anything, just sat down and took off his coat, beginning the exam.

***

His first semester at Brakebills University began immediately after he’d taken the entry exam, was called in for an interview and was told he’d been accepted. Quentin never knew his chosen career path would be learning literal magic, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. All his life he had been dreaming of the same kind of magic that was in the Fillory books, and now it was here. A literal dream come true, and he got to experience it with his best friend.

Quentin had barely had the time to adjust to the life of a vampire, let alone one who studied magic at an actual university, so he felt a little overwhelmed. The other parts of being a vampire he had pretty much gotten used to, but the hardest part had to be his fangs. Sometimes, they would pop out without warning at the most inappropriate times. When he was excited, angry, irritated, hungry… Seemingly no specific time or place.

Brakebills wasn’t the easiest to get used to, either. Just seeing people do magic, actual magic, so casually all the time, was something Quentin just could not comprehend. Not to mention the people there; everyone seemed to have some prior knowledge about magic and they all seemed to be smarter, prettier, preppier than him. It was a feeling Quentin was used to, but he had somehow thought it would be different at Brakebills. The classes were confusing at first, but he got the hang of them quite fast. There was more theory of magic than the usage of it, which Quentin was very grateful of. He hadn't tried casting spells much at all and didn’t really want to yet, as he couldn’t bear the possibility of failing. Julia, of course, was already exceling every class.

A few weeks into the semester, things started to get better.

Classes didn’t seem so difficult to comprehend after all, and he was already so much better at controlling his cravings. The school grounds were slowly getting easier to navigate, and he also got to know some new people: Margo, the girl who’d shown him around, Alice, Penny, Kady. All first years except for Margo, who was a second year student. They were all Physical kids except for Julia, whose discipline was Knowledge. Sometimes they all hung out together in the school library, where Julia’s dorm resided, or the garden after classes had ended. You could say they were acquaintances slowly becoming friends, but Quentin didn't want to get too attached.

Turned out being a vampire at a school for “magicians”, as the teachers called them, was surprisingly easy. Physical kids, mostly second or third years, liked to host parties at their cottage nearly every other day, so it wasn't very hard for Quentin to take someone back to his dorm room every once in a while and... Well, feed, or whatever you might call it.

For the past week, though, Quentin had been struggling with a certain subject in phosphoromancy, and thus had been staying in his room pretty much whenever he could, spending the time either studying or stressing over the subject. Mostly the latter. Because of that, Quentin hadn’t had the chance to feed... And boy, was he hungry. He’d have to find someone to feed from soon or concentrating in class would become even harder. He knew if he didn’t feed soon, he wouldn’t be able to attend classes at all.

The whole day Quentin tried to keep himself as busy as possible and not think about the worsening throbbing in his head, the dryness of his throat and the trembling of his hands. He fidgeted constantly and every time he tried to focus on the teacher’s lecture, all he could hear was the other students’ heartbeats.

It was disturbing, to say the least. 

Somehow Quentin got through most of the day without many issues, but during the last lecture if the day his fangs popped out and wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard he tried. It was extremely frustrating, but Quentin knew could get through it. He just had to get out of there as soon as the lecture ended. 

It was around 4:30 PM when Quentin finally arrived at the Physical Kids’ Cottage and rushed to his room. A student named Todd was hosting a party in 30 minutes, so he wouldn’t have to wait much longer to have the chance to feed. That thought kept him going. He started getting ready for the party, mostly to distract himself from his hunger. He changed his clothes, brushed his hair and teeth. Apparently toothpaste or some ingredient in it worked as “fang repellent”, because his fangs retracted almost immediately after he’d brushed them.

When Quentin started hearing chatter, he went downstairs. Music started playing not long after he arrived, and slowly but surely more and more people started showing up. Quentin decided to wait until a few more people showed up, and started to kill time talking to Julia and Margo. They said Penny hadn’t wanted to come for some reason, and Kady and Alice were “studying”. Quentin actually had a not so bad time talking to them, considering he was really fucking hungry.

By around 5:35 a good crowd had formed, and Quentin decided it was time for him to find someone. He left Margo and Julia by themselves after mumbling an excuse for why he had to go.

He started looking around in different corners of the cottage, but almost everyone seemed either unapproachable or had some company. In the living room, though, he saw someone sitting on the couch, drinking and looking uncomfortable.

_ Negative emotions taste better_, he heard a voice say at the back of his head. And so he walked across the room to sit down next to the curly-haired fellow student.

Quentin cleared his throat.

Nothing. 

After a while, he cleared his throat again. 

Still nothing.

Quentin decided to try another approach. Usually he was more subtle than this, but his hunger made him very impatient. Quentin carefully booped the guy’s nose. That finally got his attention. He looked a bit weirded out, but that didn’t throw Quentin off.

”You look like you don’t really want to be here”, Quentin said. “I’m Quentin.” The guy took a whole minute to register what the weirdo sitting next to him had just said.

“Well yeah, I’m not exactly in the best mood right now”, he said. Quentin frowned. “I’m Eliot.” There was a moment of silence before Quentin spoke.

“I could take your mind off of things for a while”, Quentin suggested and couldn’t believe what he was saying. This was definitely the tipsy, hungry vampire in him speaking.

"Please fucking do", Eliot said and offered him his hand. Quentin smiled, feeling one of his fangs poke his inner lower lip. He took hold of Eliot's hand, stood up and led them through the crowd and into his room.

The door had barely clicked closed when Quentin already pushed Eliot onto his bed, immediately climbing on his lap and pressing his lips against Eliot's. Eliot let out a surprised sound, but other than that he seemed more than pleased with where they were headed. Quentin separated their lips, hastily undid Eliot’s tie and struggled a bit with unbuttoning his dress shirt. When Quentin was done, he threw Eliot’s shirt on the floor next to the bed and placed his cold hands against Eliot's warm chest. He stopped for a while, enjoying the warmth and rapid pulse under his fingers. _Click_, he heard. His fangs had slid out.

Quentin was so in thought, he didn't even notice Eliot was pulling Quentin's jumper off over his head before he was shirtless. Quentin didn't mind, but he had thought he would just quickly drink from this guy and then go back to the party. Apparently this guy had other plans. Quentin pushed Eliot back on the bed, his fangs practically aching. He wanted to savour this, though, even if all he wanted to do was to just sink his fangs in and _drink_. 

Quentin fixed his position on Eliot's hips and leaned forward to kiss him. The kissing quickly heated, and Quentin felt his heartbeat quicken to a pace it normally couldn't have reached in his vampiric state. This was what he loved most about feeding. Not only the overwhelming feeling of pleasure when he fed, but also the fact that he could almost feel alive again. He loved the warmth, the closeness, the adrenaline. All of it. Quentin decided not to waste any more time, so he ducked down and went straight for Eliot's neck.

He didn't bite immediately, though. He licked the sensitive skin to get the blood flowing better, and even though he hadn't even bitten Eliot yet, he swore he could already feel his blood on his tongue. Finally Quentin went for it and sunk his fangs in Eliot’s neck. Quentin felt him tense up underneath him, but after a while Eliot melted into his hold. Quentin could feel he was enjoying this, too. It’d be no fun if he wasn’t.

Eliot’s warm blood tasted surprisingly sweet and it had a slight bitter ting to it. Quentin could taste the wine, drugs, even sadness in his delicious blood, and drop by drop he pulled them out of him. With every gulp of blood Quentin could feel himself getting more and more high, from both the blood and the qualities it possessed. Feeding always felt like a long-lasting climax, but this time was different, somehow. It was even more intense.

It was too easy to get lost in that lightheaded feeling, but when Quentin realized Eliot’s blood's taste went from liquid ambrosia to appalling rust, he knew it was time to stop. He’d fed enough. Quentin forced his fangs to retract and moved away from Eliot’s neck. He gave the wound one last lick, ensuring it would heal properly. Quentin wasn't sure why, vampires' saliva had healing properties. It was a weird perk, but it definitely came in handy.

Quentin climbed down from Eliot's lap and sat down on the bed, trying to even his breath. He slowly felt himself coming down from the high. His thoughts cleared and his ability to focus returned.

_Jesus fuck._

“What the fuck was that?” Eliot asked with a neutral tone and expression, sitting up. He was most likely so high from the bite that he wouldn't have felt a thing even if his heart was ripped right out of his chest. “Um... It’s a party trick”, Quentin replied as casually as he could and wiped blood away from his mouth with his hand. Eliot didn't say anything, just stared into the distance with glassy eyes.

“I’m going to alter your memories a bit now. Sorry, but it's necessary”, Quentin said and turned to face Eliot. "If anyone asks, all we did was hook up, nothing more. Right?" Quentin said and looked deeply into Eliot's eyes.

"...Right."


End file.
